OPTICAL APPLICATIONS OF BACTERIORHODOPSIN AND ITS MUTATED VARIANTS

Biological systems can be engineered to perform optical data storage. These natural materials, for example bacteriorhodopsin, a protein from the photosynthetic system of a bacteria which lives in exteme environments, can also be employed in pattern recognition (see Figure) where a 25 letter pattern is compared with the letter "P". The position of the letter "P" in the grid is correctly identified but the letters "B" and "R" are also marked as containing the elements of the letter "P". This ability to recognize similarity could have important applications in data processing.